Zenaida, daughter of Spanish choreographer Carmen Robles and dancer Anatol Yanowsky, was born in Lyon, France and grew up in Las Palmas on the Canary Islands. She attended classes at her parent’s ballet school and only began to consider dance a profession when, at the age of 16, she won a silver medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 1991. She joined the Paris Opera in 1993, before moving to London in 1994 to dance with The Royal Ballet and in 2001 was promoted to the rank of Principal.